UNC to allow pets in residence hall in 2014-15

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Move-in day at the University of Northern Colorado is going to look a whole lot different next fall.

It’s likely to sound different, too, as nearly 40 four-legged companions will join their human friends as they take up residence at Lawrenson Hall.

UNC is about to become its own rare breed with a pet friendly residence hall.

“Our student population’s needs are continually changing in what they are looking for as far as college experiences,” said Jennifer Brundage, assistant director of apartment life and operations for the college. “We have already developed other communities by majors, interests and identity groups.”

Sophomore Raye Sims is looking forward to the change.

“I have always wanted a dog,” she said. “This comes without all the stress of a lease and rent and pet deposits.”

According to CollegeXpress, an online college resource center for students and parents, UNC will become one of fewer than a dozen colleges in the United States that allows cats and dogs on campus.

Western State Colorado in Gunnison became the first Colorado college this year to allow one cat or one small- to medium-sized dog in one of its buildings.

“This is a pilot program in its truest form,” Brundage said. “We will get resident input through a pet council. We are designing it like a residential community.”

Brundage said the campus also plans to partner with Weld County Humane Society and local veterinarians.

“We really want to beef up what it is like to live in a pet-friendly community,” she said.

Sims, a theater major originally from Denver, said the situation fit her perfectly. She doesn’t like sharing a room with another human. So for a $500 buyout, she can keep a fury friend instead.

“I hope to get a shiba inu,” she said. “They are super cute and adorable and relatively low maintenance.”

The college is committed to expanding the program if successful, but it will also end it if it’s not.

Under the program, 21 rooms have been set aside at Lawrenson on the second, third and fourth floors. There are 17 apartments that hold four students each and three to five single efficiency suites. Two of those will be reserved for staff. Each pet owner will have the option to “buy out” one of the rooms in a suite for $500. There will be no more than two animals allowed in each room. So the larger rooms will allow one-four students and one-two animals and the smaller will have one student, one pet at maximum, she said.

Sims will share the apartment with a friend, who also plans to buy out her room and maybe get a cat, she said.

“One of the things we always hear is, ‘I wish I could have a puppy. I wish I could have a cat,’ ” Brundage said. “It was just a matter of figuring out what we could provide in a realistic fashion.”

Thirty students have already signed up. The college has been internally marketing the program to existing students. But incoming freshmen begin selecting their residences on Monday, so they will be offered the opportunity to rent the remaining rooms.

There are no damage deposits but expectations are high, Brundage said. A thorough walk-through and check-out will take place, noting every scratch, every torn rug, every everything out of place when a student moves in and again when they move out.

“We’ll be looking at how many scratches are on a desk,” she said. “Students do know there could be charges beyond the normal stuff.”

There is a rigorous application process, orientation and limits on the size (smaller than 40 pounds at full size) and breed (no pit bulls, German shepherds, Great Danes, huskies, Rottweilers, mastiffs, terriers, Dalmatians, wolf or any dog that is a mix of any of them). Cats must be indoor domesticated.

Brundage said so far the idea has taken off and she’s optimistic it will be a success.

“Students seem to be really excited,” she said.

Sims is.

“It will be a big change,” she said. “It’s not going to be a perfect system the first year, but a lot of people move off campus just to have a pet. Now we can still be here, have a meal plan and live in our own apartment, but not have all the headaches that come with an apartment off campus.”